The Cinematic Museum: The Postwar Art Documentary

This two-day symposium and film program on the postwar art documentary includes several lectures by international experts as well as screenings of rarely seen mid-twentieth-century films. Documentaries by Henri Alekan and Dudley Shaw Ashton on the sculptures by Auguste Rodin and Barbara Hepworth respectively will be combined with a rare late-1930s color film on Rubens by René Huyghe, two so-called critofilms by Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti, and some segments of Pictura, a major portmanteau production containing parts directed by several filmmakers including Alain Resnais. Particular attention goes to the way these films can be seen as “cinematic museums” in the sense that filmmakers consciously experimented with viewpoints, light conditions, and display devices to transform the original artwork in a thrilling cinematic experience.

The event is organized by Steven Jacobs and Birgit Cleppe (Ghent University) in collaboration with Cinea, Cinematek Brussels, and KASK Cinema.

The symposium and film program takes place on 1 and 2 December at KASK Cinema. Here you can find the full program and information about the free reservation that is required.

This initiative is connected to a book launch that takes place on the first evening. Screening Statues: Sculpture and Cinema by Steven Jacobs, Susan Felleman, Vito Adriaensens, and Lisa Colpaert is the first book to focus on the relationship between sculpture and the silver screen. It examines key sculptural motifs and cinematic sculpture in film history through a series of case studies and through an extensive reference gallery of 150 different films.

You can order the book from the Edinburg University Press.